A contemporary of the Spitfire, Britain’s Fleet Air Arm torpedo bomber was outdated when it entered service in 1939. Yet this sturdycraftsankahighertonnage of shipping than any other torpedo bomber in the war, outliving several intended replacements. Twenty Swordfish shuttered Italy’s Taranto naval base in a November 1940 raid, sinking three battleships, two auxiliary vessels, and damaging two destroyers; only two were shot down by the defensive storm of 13,000 antiaircraft shells. Against enemies anticipating cutting-edge aircraft, the Swordfish could be a deadly surprise—most notably during the May 1941 sinking of the Bismarck, when German gunners were ill-prepared to hit slow, low-flying airplanes, allowing a Swordfish to disable the ship’s rudder.
Related stories
Portfolio: Images of War as Landscape
Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, […]
Jerrie Mock: Record-Breaking American Female Pilot
In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earhart’s disappearance.
During the War Years, Posters From the American Homefront Told You What to Do — And What Not to Do
If you needed some motivation during the war years, there was probably a poster for that.
An SAS Rescue Mission Mission Gone Wrong
When covert operatives went into Italy to retrieve prisoners of war, little went according to plan.